Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 29 Indian Fight

"boom!"

On January 1626, 1, in the snow-covered forest, several hunters wrapped in thick fur hid behind some trees with bated breath, staring intently at some elk in front of them.

With the sound of a gunshot, an elk in the snow ahead immediately fell to the ground, kicked its four hooves vigorously a few times, and then its movements began to slow down slowly, and a faint humming sound came from its mouth.

The remaining elk fled in all directions and soon disappeared into the dense jungle.

"Oh, sir, you are so accurate!... You are simply a sharpshooter picked out of a hundred." A Spaniard ran over excitedly, quickly dragged the elk over, and said flatteringly to Li Liang who was holding a musket.

“…” Li Liang glanced at him and ignored him.

Although, I don't know what this guy said, but judging from his expression, he should be flattering him.

As several snowfalls fell in succession and the weather gradually turned colder, most of the construction work in Shixing Fort basically stopped.

But this does not mean that everyone can lie in the wooden house and sleep in with nothing to do, and they cannot waste food.

Some people, wrapped in simple but thick leather clothes, were taken turns to work in the wild hunting, logging or fishing at sea, in order to continuously increase the food and wood reserves in the camp and make adequate preparations for the winter.

Those who stayed behind in the camp needed to process the chopped wood into materials suitable for building wooden houses, or make simple furniture, in preparation for the construction of the camp next spring.

In later generations, the winter temperature in the Vancouver area was not cold, generally above zero degrees. Only in inland mountainous areas and high-altitude areas would the temperature drop to several degrees below zero or even more than ten degrees, leaving behind thick snow.

However, this happened to be the time when the Earth was in a mini-ice age, which resulted in abnormal climate, and inevitably North America was directly affected. The temperature on Qiming Island also dropped below zero degrees, about minus 7 or 8 degrees Celsius, and the howling wind and heavy snow made it even colder.

The "Breaking Waves" has been away for more than fifty days. Even if everything goes well, the earliest time for its return will be mid-to-late February.

Because, all the way north from Mexico, you have to sail against the strong northwest monsoon. If you are only driven by sails, the fastest speed can only be 4-5 knots, which is much slower than the outbound journey.

Needless to say, the ship was also full of looted production and living supplies, which would affect the ship's speed to a certain extent.

With the remaining fuel reserves of the "Breaking Waves", the ship can be driven at a speed of about 10 knots, but considering the various uncertainties in the future, the time travelers will definitely not do so. They will definitely choose to shut down the engine to save the remaining fuel.

To put it bluntly, if the time travelers encountered an extremely dangerous situation, such as the Spaniards coming to destroy them, these fuels would be their last resort to escape.

After all, a few assault rifles could not stop the Spanish's continuous attacks.

If they mobilized more than a thousand troops and carried more than a dozen cannons, the extremely simple defense facilities of Shixing Fort would definitely not be able to withstand the enemy's fierce attack.

In the end, he picked up the bucket and ran away. If he had been slower, they would all have died here.

Judging from the way the Spanish treated the Native Americans and pagans, time travelers would not think they would be treated leniently.

Of course, the best result that everyone expects is that in the short term, the Spaniards do not discover their existence, let alone find Qiming Island, so that Shixing Fort can have the opportunity to develop rapidly.

After seven or eight years, we can attract three to five thousand immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, build a solid brick and stone fortress, and install a few cannons on it. We will have a certain self-defense capability and will not be afraid of the Spaniards coming to kill us.

In fact, in history, the Spanish had already set foot in California and even sent expeditions to the Oregon region to conduct detailed geographical surveys.

However, because these areas are mountainous, have few resources, and are far away from Spain's colonial center, Spain did not actually control the areas north of Mexico. Not only did it not build forts, it did not even carry out basic immigration activities.

It wasn't until the mid-18th century, with the Russians' infiltration of North America and their colonization of Alaska, that the Spanish caught their attention. To prevent further Russian expansion in North America, the Spanish not only claimed the Oregon Territory as their own, but also established a permanent settlement on Vancouver Island in 1789—Santa Cruz de Nuca—which became their northernmost territory in Spanish America.

If we follow this historical timeline as a reference, the travelers of the "Wavebreaker" don't have to worry about the threat from the Spanish, as this is still more than 160 years away!

Such a long time is definitely enough for the time travelers and their descendants to establish a stable territory. Even if they cannot expand externally on a large scale, it should not be a problem for them to establish their own territory and defend themselves due to the geographical advantages.

However, there is another effect in this world called the butterfly effect.

When the "Wavebreaker" broke into this space and time, it began to disturb the world, which in turn caused many chain reactions.

You can't really expect that the time travelers captured the Spanish galleon "San Louis" and then, under the guidance of Spanish sailors, headed to Mexico to attack and plunder coastal towns, while the Spaniards were completely unmoved, still burying their heads in digging for gold and opening silver mines, and not even looking up to the north?
If someone really expects this, it’s not that the Spaniards are stupid, but that I am really stupid!
In this world, the Chinese are not the only ones who understand the principle of "I will not allow others to snore beside my bed". The Spanish must also know the significance of internal troubles and constraints from behind.

Therefore, the existence of Shixing Fort should be hidden for as long as possible. The longer the time available for peaceful development, the stronger its future strength will be.

Well, just like now, every time an elk is hunted, there will be an extra portion of meat, so this new group will have more food reserves.

"Look, someone is chasing them!"

The men were considering whether to carry the elk back to the camp, have lunch, drink some hot soup, and then go out to hunt again, when they saw a Spaniard who was exploring the forest hurried over and loudly reported that several figures were running in their direction.

Then everyone held their muskets and daggers, carefully lay down behind a low slope, and stared vigilantly at the front.

After a while, five or six Indians wrapped in animal skins appeared in their sight. They looked panicked and in a disheveled state, as if they were injured. They were running towards them at full speed, obviously trying to avoid being chased from behind.

I don’t know if it’s a ferocious black bear or a large group of wild wolves.

Logically speaking, black bears should be hibernating at this time of year and would not sneak out to find a native for a temporary meal.

But if it was a large pack of wild wolves, not to mention that these fleeing Indians could not deal with it, even if a few of them were armed with muskets and daggers, they might not dare to challenge these hungry and ferocious wolves head-on.

As several people hesitated, wondering whether to turn around and flee, a sharp-eyed Spaniard whispered.

Not far behind the fleeing Indians, there were another dozen Indians holding wooden spears, shouting loudly, and chasing them hard.

Oh, it turned out to be a fight between the indigenous people!

The two Spaniards turned to look at Li Liang and Wei Zhonglong, their eyes asking for instructions.

Should we intervene in the indigenous people’s fight?
However, before they could react, the dozen or so Indian natives who were chasing them suddenly discovered a large pool of blood and messy footprints on the snow. They immediately stopped, tightly grasped their wooden spears, and looked around vigilantly.

In a moment, they turned their eyes towards the slope where the few people were hiding, and quickly made defensive preparations.

Wow, these natives react pretty quickly!

Li Liang picked up the musket and slowly stood up from behind the slope, pointing the muzzle at the Indians who were on alert.

Afterwards, Wei Zhonglong and the two Spaniards also stood up, each holding their weapons, holding their breath and preparing for battle.

(End of this chapter)